Textile Import to the Territory of Rus in the IX – First Third of the XIII Century according to Archaeological Data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24852/2587-6112.2025.2.21.29Keywords:
archaeological textiles, imported commodity, Pre-Mongol Rus, technological characteristics, silk, gold-woven textiles, wool fabrics, cotton, economic linksAbstract
The article deals with the finds of archaeological textiles of IX - the first third of XIII centuriy found on the territory of Rus, which are identified as imported products. Based on archaeological data, the range of imported textiles and the ways of their use are analyzed. The attention is also given to the issue of specific technological characteristics of textiles that help to clarify their origin. This research demonstrated that quite a large amount of foreign textiles was imported into Rus; this included fabrics, silk and gold threads, and sometimes finished textile products. At the same time archaeological data indicates that the local population used silk and gold-woven textiles from the Mediterranean, Central Asia, the Far East, and China. The gold threads came from Byzantium, Western Europe, and the countries of the East. Besides, gold-woven ribbons and woolen fabrics manufactured in Western Europe were imported into the Rus. The use of cotton is not typical for this period, but there are single finds of such textiles, similar to the products of Central Asia, Turkey, Persia or India. The study of textile finds confirms the existence of trade relations between Rus and other countries in the IX – first third of the XIII century.
References
Makarov, N. A. (ed.). 2009. Arkheologiia severnorusskoi derevni X–XIII vv.: Srednevekovye poseleniia i mogil’niki na Kubenskom ozere (Archaeology of the Northern Rus Village, the 10th – 13th Centuries: Medieval Settlements and Cemeteries near Kubenskoye Lake). Vol. 3. Moscow: “Nauka” Publ. (in Russian).
In Kolchin, B. A. (ed.). 1985. Drevniaia Rus'. Gorod, zamok, selo (Ancient Rus’. Town, Castle, Village). Series: Arkheologiia SSSR (Archaeology of the USSR) 6(20). Moscow: “Nauka” Publ. (in Russian).
In Voronin, N. N., Karger, M. K., Tikhanova, M. M. 1951. (eds.). Istoriia kultury Drevnei Rusi. Domongol’skii period. T. 1. Material’naia kultura (History of the Culture of Ancient Russia. Pre-Mongol Period. Vol. I: Material Culture) Moscow; Leningrad (in Russian).
Klimova, T. A. 2012. In Izvestiia Altaiskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta (Izvestiya of Altai State University) 4–1 (76), 130–134 (in Russian).
Kochkurkina, S. I., Orfinskaya, O. V. 2014. Priladozhskaya kurgannaya kul'tura: tekhnologicheskoe issledovanie tekstilya (Ladoga burial mound culture: the technological study of textiles). Petrozavodsk: Karelian Scientific Center, RAS (in Russian).
Mikhailov, K. A. 2011. In Yanin, V. L. (ed.). Novgorod i Novgorodskaia zemlia. Istoriia i arkheologiia (Novgorod and Novgorod Land. History and Archaeology) 25. Veliky Novgorod: “Pechatnyy dvor "Velikiy Novgorod"” Publ., 166–177 (in Russian).
Nakhlik, A. 1963. In Artsikhovskii, A. V., Kolchin, B. A. (eds.). Trudy Novgorodskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii (Proceedings of the Novgorod Archaeological Expedition) 4. Series: Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR (Materials and Research in the USSR Archaeology) 123. Moscow: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 228–313 (in Russian).
Orfinskaya, O. V., Golikov, V. P., Engovatova, A. V. 2010. In Engovatova, A. V. (ed.). Arkheologiia Podmoskov’ia: Materialy nauchnogo seminara (Archaeology of the Moscow Region: Proceedings of Scientific Seminar) 6. Moscow: Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 130–139 (in Russian).
Orfinskaya, O. V., Zozulya, S. S. 2020. In Genesis: istoricheskie issledovaniya (Genesis: Historical research) (6), 118–135 (in Russian).
Orfinskaya, O. V., Mikhailov, K. A. 2020. Tekstil' Staroy Ladogi epokhi vikingov (The Viking age textiles of Staraya Ladoga). Series: Trudy Instituta istorii material'noy kul'tury Rossiyskoy akademii nauk (Proceedings of the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences) LVI. Saint Petersburg: “Ars Longa” Publ. (in Russian).
Saburova, M. A., Elkina, A. E. 1991. In Sedov, M. V. (ed.) Materialy po srednevekovoi arkheologii severo-vostochnoi Rusi (Materials on Medieval Archaeology of North-Eastern Russia). Moscow: “Nauka” Publ., 53–77 (in Russian).
Fekhner, M. V. 1982. In Sovetskaia Arkheologiia (Soviet Archaeology) (2), 57–70 (in Russian).
Khoroshkeviich, A. L. 1963. Torgovlya Velikogo Novgoroda s Pribaltikoy i Zapadnoy Evropoy v XIV–XV vekakh (Trade relations of Veliky Novgorod with the Baltic region and Western Europe in the XIV – XV centuries). Moscow: Academy of sciences of the USSR (in Russian).
Tsarevskaya, T. Yu. 2015. In Belyaev, L. A., Sedov, V. V. (eds.). Obraz khristianskogo khrama: sbornik statey po drevnerusskomu iskusstvu k 60-letiyu A.L. Batalova (The image of a Christian temple: collected articles on ancient Russian art for the 60th anniversary of A.L. Batalov). Moscow: “Artkitchen” Publ., 125–149 (in Russian).
Chernych, N. B. 1958. In Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta) (4), 101–111 (in Russian).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 E.M. Kalugina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
